Local Channel Mystery

[Southbound]

I was called in at the request of a contactor to see if a customer could get HD Locals with an off-air antenna with an H20 receiver. The first thing I noticed after I had everything hooked up and got into the menu, was a couple of options were a different color. Here we go menu -settings -setup -sat & Ant - atenna setup- with 4 choices to choose from in the color white. On this customers receiver the 2nd and 4th options, "Edit Off -Air Channels" and "Antenna Signal Meter", were the color dark blue. These options were not available to use currently. So I ran the first #1, "Scan for Local Channels", with 69 signals found. I then ran the only other option #3 "Local Markets" which is supposed to incorporate the new channels into the guide. It ran and ran and ran "Searching for local markets" and appreared that it had found nothing. So wondering around through the guide looking at things I found that he was a subscriber to East Coast and West Coast feeds allowing him to have the national stuff in HD. Is it possible that DirectV can disable a customers receiver from accessing off-air, if he subscribes to East/West?

 

[Brewer4]

Not that I am aware of.

 

[Juan]

Perhaps the receiver isnt getting a digital signal(or any signal) from the off air antenna?

 

[Southbound]

Perhaps the receiver isnt getting a digital signal(or any signal) from the off air antenna?

The #2 and #4 option were not available bfore I ever ran the scan. I have an H20 here at the office. My #2 and #4 option work, even if I run a scan with no antenna hooked up. I'm sure DirecTV has disabled his receiver from getting local HD (antenna) since he's buying distant networks for the national HD feeds.

 

[Southbound]

Has anyone got an H20 that subscribes to your digital locals, plus East and West coast feeds for HD? Can you also get your locals through an off-air too?

 

[VMI90]

I have an H20 and am subscribed to the east coast feeds for Fox and CBS. I am able to pick up some off air stations. The inability however has everything to do with my location and not DirecTV.

 

[Southbound]

07-22-2007, 08:22 PM
juan

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Perhaps the receiver isnt getting a digital signal(or any signal) from the off air antenna?

JUAN YOU ARE THE WINNER -it was that simple

Mystery Solved I've put about 5 hours of testing into this and finally discovered a few things all should know. On the H20 receiver, if you run the "channel scan" for off-air locals, with NO ANTENNA ATTACHED, the screen will show "69 channels found". In reality, if no channels are found, options 2 "Edit Off -Air Channels" and 4 "Antenna Signal Meter". become "blue" unavailable. This is your clue that your situation is bad. If the receiver/antenna picks up anything, even 1 channel at 1 percent, then all 4 options remain in the color white and available. So no matter if the receiver says "69 channels found", it means absolutely nothing. I also had a CSR tell me that if the initial setup was run for "satellite setup only" as opposed to "satellite and antenna setup", that would cause the two options to be unavailable. Not true. I ran it both ways and all options were available, until I ran a channels scan with no antenna attached, still 69 found, but no option available for "edit" or "sig. meter".